We tested an electric salt spoon that may help you stick to your low-sodium diet

Let’s be honest: Most low-sodium foods aren’t great, which makes it difficult for many of us to make the swap to slim down our bodies. blood pressure And repel My heart disease. Among Tools and New technology At CES may be the solution to this problem.

The Kirin Electric Salt Spoon can give your food a salty taste without any of the downsides of added sodium. It was one of the standout products at CES this year and earned the spot of our top weird tech List of CES awards.

The device sends electricity from the spoon to your tongue to give you a sense of saltiness. Trust me, you’re not the only one who thinks that electricity and tongues generally don’t mix. Thank God it is a weak electrical current.

The Kirin Electric Salt Spoon comes in two pieces: the spoon and the detachable handle that houses all the technical bits. The handle has menu buttons to change the four salinity levels. The spoon is very chunky in the hand, although the presence of batteries and electronic parts inside is not entirely surprising.

While the idea is great, we have to admit that while testing the Kirin Electric Salt Spoon, we thought it was… well. The best way to describe the change in flavor of the broth presented in the demo is that it tasted more “full” during shipping. The taste difference was slightly noticeable between intensities. Kirin Notes on release The experience will differ from one person to another, and the feeling may differ depending on the food.

The spoon does what it says, although activating the current may seem like making the stars align to some. The handle is thick, with sensors on the back of the spoon that you have to touch to activate. Depending on your dexterity, you may have to wrap your fist around it, like a toddler would do. In the spoon part there is a different sensor that the food needs to touch to receive the salinity wave. The handle has a blue light below the button that turns white when ready. If the food moves away from the sensor in the spoon, you will lose current and your food will not be salty.

Touching the sensors on the back of the handle and moving food to the right place on the spoon to activate the current can be a balancing act that gets old quickly.

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The Kirin Electric Salt Spoon is an interesting concept and has the important mission of reducing sodium intake. I can see this spoon moving the needle in a way that is useful for people who need to reduce their sodium intake quickly for health reasons. When we tested the spoon, the flavor of the broth increased as described. However, I wouldn’t completely rely on this spoon just yet. The steps needed to make it work are inconvenient, and we cannot rule out the possibility that the placebo effect may have had an effect to some extent.

The Kirin Electric Salt Spoon is available in Japan and should be available in North America this year. It will cost around $125, which can be hard to justify for a spoon. Kirin states that people with pacemakers or other medical devices should not use her spoon.